Congolese football vows to stand with Infantino as FIFA moves into next mandate

Veron Mosengo Omba has praised Gianni Infantino’s leadership and reaffirmed the Federation Congolaise de Football Association’s full support for the FIFA president, despite the withdrawal of a project linked to the global governing body.

Mosengo Omba said the decision must not overshadow what he described as Infantino’s positive record and the considerable work completed during his time in charge of FIFA. The FECOFA president argued that the project, although no longer being pursued, had been motivated by good intentions.

He also said its withdrawal should not erase the consistent efforts made by FIFA to develop football around the world. In particular, he highlighted the organisation’s work in Africa and its support for federations that are still emerging or seeking to strengthen their structures.

The message from FECOFA was therefore one of continued confidence in Infantino’s wider record rather than a focus on the fate of the individual project. Mosengo Omba maintained that the approach taken by FIFA over the past decade had helped create a more structured basis for the development of international football.

According to the FECOFA president, Infantino’s administration has provided practical support and investment aimed at advancing the game. He said those policies had delivered tangible benefits for football in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly through assistance directed towards infrastructure and competitions.

Mosengo Omba described the investment as strategically important to the modernisation of Congolese football. The support, he said, had helped the country’s football structures and competitions progress as part of the broader development work carried out under FIFA.

His comments concluded with a renewed declaration of FECOFA’s “firm and unwavering” commitment to working alongside the FIFA president. The federation said it would continue to support Infantino as he seeks to carry forward the direction and mandate entrusted to FIFA by successive congresses.

Those mandates were given at the 2018 congress, the congress in Paris in 2019 and the congress in Kigali in 2023. FECOFA said Congolese football would give Gianni Infantino its full backing to continue that momentum from 2027.

Mosengo Omba’s statement thus combined an acknowledgement that the project had been withdrawn with a strong endorsement of the FIFA president’s broader leadership. Rather than allowing that development to define the assessment of Infantino’s tenure, he placed the emphasis on the investment, guidance and development work that FECOFA believes has benefited football internationally and in Africa.

The federation’s position is that the project should be viewed in the context of those wider efforts. While it is no longer in place, FECOFA maintains that it originated from a positive intention and should not obscure FIFA’s continuing contribution to the growth of the sport, especially for federations requiring support to modernise their football systems.